Elon Musk is doubling down on his high-tech-driven predictions for the future. The billionaire who recently got his $1 trillion pay package over the next 10 years approved from Tesla shareholders said Wednesday that money would soon become “irrelevant.”
Earning a few moments under the spotlight, the multi-hyphenate CEO and tech boss was briefly interviewed at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, DC, on November 19 (US time). The event followed right after US President Donald Trump’s White House dinner party for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which also caught a glimpse of the tech titan’s short reunion with the MAGA leader.
Elon Musk’s high-tech prediction for the future
As far as the richest person in the world is concerned, artificial intelligence and robots are the answer to eliminating poverty. Whether most agree with him or not, Musk reiterated his stance on the issue he’s long talked about on different occasions.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss predicted “work will be optional” in the next 10-20 years, which he envision to be the “long term” picture. The big claim inevitably elicited a hesitant, but ultimately a huge round of applause at the forum.
Musk believes a continued improvement in the AI and robotics scene is likely, which will, in turn, render money irrelevant at some point in the future. “Currency become irrelevant,” he added, while reiterating AI and robots will “eliminate poverty.”
As far as Elon’s insights go, AI and robotics are the “one way” to make everyone health. He further noted that while Tesla may stand on top as a pioneer in the creation of humanoid robots (Optimus), others will suit.
Eon Musk’s vision for the economic future turn to Optimus
Musk has long held an ambitious vision for the robots. In hopes of them transforming the economy, the Tesla founder has focussed on Optimus doing all the work in the future even if its cuts down on human labour for good.
His company has already demoed them by tasking them to hand out candy on Halloween. An Optimus robot even showed up at the recent Tron: Ares premiere and displayed its action chops in a Kung Fu stunt with Jared Leto.
“People often talk about eliminating poverty, giving everyone amazing medical care,” Elon said earlier this month at the company’s shareholder event. “Optimus will actually eliminate poverty.”
Firmly believing in Tesla’s humanoid robot expansion, Musk said these robots would increase the global economy ten-fold or even a hundred times. Even then, he suggested that Optimus was the key to making work “optional” down the line.
Ironically, that was the very day shareholders finally greenlit Musk’s long-contested $1 trillion pay packaged.
“We’ll have, in a benign scenario, universal high income,” he said of the robots stepping in to boost the economy. “Anyone can have any products or services that they want. But there will be a lot of trauma and disruption along the way.”
Much like what Musk said on Wednesday, he wrote in an October X post, “AI and robots will replace all jobs. Working will be optional, like growing your own vegetables, instead of buying them from the store.”
Among the many other sensational predictions Musk has made, he previously even responded positively to Optimus tapping into a real person’s consciousness in under 20 years.
As established by the Tesla CEO, his company won’t be the only banner to be associated with humanoid robot production down the line. Some other companies working on the demanding project are Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Canada’s Sanctuary AI, China’s UBTech and more.
Internet reacts to Elon Musk’s claims
Someone took a jab at the tech exec, saying, “The guy that just took a TRILLION DOLLAR SALARY says money will be irrelevant,” on X.
Another chimed in: “Guy whose entire life is in pursuit of increasing his wealth to absurd levels: yeah guys money isn’t going to matter any more any day now.”
A third user painted a dystopian vision, saying, “And who will control the robots? Because we will all be at his mercy if it comes to that.”
Someone else pointed out the obvious: “How can poverty end if the rich get richer and the poor get poorer?”
Yet another person called out Musk’s statements being rife with contradictions: “At the end of the clip when he says “AI will make us all wealthy ” who is he talking about? And why does he use the word wealthy if money won’t be a thing anymore?”